Starfleet Academy
by Spinjitzugirl6310
Summary: Emily Harris has nothing to lose, and nothing to leave behind when she leaves for Starfleet Academy, desperate to mean something. Her cold exterior seems to harden with time, something that her 'sort of friends' can't understand. As she prepares for exams and her time on a starship, her friends slowly seem to be melting the ice. All she has to do now is be fit for Starfleet.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I decided to try a Star Trek fanfiction, and I came up with this. I did my research on Starfleet Academy, and I tried to imagine what it would be like, so here you go, and please Read and Review!**

When Emily Harris went off to Starfleet Academy, she was leaving nothing behind. She had no parents. She had few memories of life anyway, before the age of 12 everything was fuzzy. The doctors diagnosed her with a mental problem. Emily knew better. She was fine, just different. At fourteen years old, she got into Starfleet. She knew that she'd be the only one her age in the groups. She didn't care either.

She was a handsome enough girl, five foot four, black haired, ice blue eyes, pale skin, sharp cheekbones, but there was something about her. She was almost masculine. She was strong, physically and mentally, hard, and yet….there was loneliness about her, seeping through her confidence at times.

When she made it to San Francisco, she turned in her application and waited. Exactly ten minutes later, she was accepted, with an infuriating: "Go get 'em, kid."

Now all she had to do was take the entrance exams. She was admitted into the room with the others, and was pointed to a desk. She walked slowly, not because she was nervous, but to examine the other students. She sat down. At the desk to the left of her was another "kid". He had to be around her age, dark blond curly hair, big blue eyes set in a pale face. He looked up at her briefly, and gave a nervous half smile. She nodded with a tight lipped almost-smile. She glanced to the right. This student was older. _Asian,_ she decided. He looked as dead serious as the rest of them. Brown eyes flicked to hers, and he nodded slightly in acknowledgement. She couldn't get as good a glimpse of the others, but she had a feeling that they were all as nervous as she was.

Except one. Sitting in the front row, an older attempter was lounging in his chair, blonde hair, and when he spun around to look at the others, she noticed piercing blue eyes and a scar. He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes. The man next to him, _Late twenties, early thirties, I should say,_ slapped him in the back of the head as a young African American woman shook her head with disgust. The younger one let out a quiet, "Aw, Bones!" Before the exams screens popped up before them. They immediately started working.

Sometimes they'd be taken from the room for another part of the test. As she took her Hyperspace Physics section of the test, the man up front that had winked at her was taken out for a different part. She glanced up and turned back to her test. Dynamic Relations was harder for her, but that was nothing compared to the Psych Test.

They took her out into a room. There, they informed her, she would experience her greatest fear.

It started.

Failing the entrance exams. Living without really living, just…existing. Doing nothing. Then, a flash of something that looked like torpedoes. Signs of war, bringing with it pangs of sadness and fear. War. Then it was over, and she was released, and she sat back as composed as possible, shaking mildly.

A few hours later, the entire class had passed. Cheers broke out, handshakes, back slapping, etc. A man with a Scots accent hugged a young lady, who laughed in response. They seemed to know one another.

Emily exchanged wordless nods with the young men on either side of her, who then shook hands happily.

They were now eligible for the Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program.


	2. Chapter 2

"Six weeks of summer classes," Emily told herself. "All I have to do is pass them." She stared confidently into a mirror. "I'll do it."

It was the first day of testing for admission into the program, and she had been given quarters a little way off.

She sat on her bed and stared straight ahead.

It was 5:00 in the morning. At seven, they were supposed to meet in the testing building. Emily shook her black hair out of her eyes and glared. _There are too many exams and tests, _she thought. _I know I can do it without these obstacles._

Then that other part of her mind showed up. **_Yes, but if you pass with the obstacles, all the way, with excellent scores, you will have jumped a higher hurdle, have won a greater goal. You will have done a greater deed._**

_True._

Emily wished sometimes that she didn't have these two sections of her mind.

Then she realized that there was nothing she could do about it, and the more determined one sounded like the voice to listen to, so she listened.

The other one was a pushover.

Emily hated pushovers.

She also disliked her name.

Emily was a quiet name, suggestive of calm and peace.

Emily herself was stormy and silent, tranquil on the outside, but fire burned within.

Before she had left for San Francisco, her guardians had called her Ace.

**_Then Ace we shall be, _**her mind told her.

She was at the building at 7:00 sharp.

The other attempters sat around her, waiting to be called. They were talking, pacing, sitting in quiet, or cramming.

Emily was sitting in quiet. She had noticed that there was one attempter missing.

There had been about twenty, there was nineteen in the room.

The door slammed open and the other "kid" that she had noticed before dashed in, panting. One of the other ones tripped him and he fell, sprawled out on the floor. There were a few snickers. Emily bent down and grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Da, I'm….YES I'm fine," the boy said.

_VERY strong Russia accent._

**_Thanks, I didn't know that._**

"And your name?" Emily asked. Social skills were not her strong suit.

"Pavel Andreviech Chekov," he told her. "Vhat is jours?"

"Emily Harris."

"Nice to meet jou, Ms. Harris."

And that was her first introduction in Starfleet.

The inquisitor, (as Emily thought of him) stepped inside. He checked a list.

"Emily Harris?"

Emily stood up wordlessly.

The inquisitor led her out to the blank testing room, and indicated a chair. Emily sat down.

"You will take the stress reaction test now," he told her. The room suddenly changed, and she was sitting in the Captain's chair, and the ship was crashing.

**_A holodeck simulation, _**she thought.  
She sat and stared out the viewscreen. Her pilot turned to her.

"What do we do, Captain?" he asked. She evaluated the situation.

"Turn us around," she ordered.

Her pilot obediently began turning the ship around, while her First Officer looked at her.

"The warp core is failing," she said.

"When we get turned around, eject it," Emily commanded. "Damage report?"

"We have casualties on all decks, and part of deck five has been blown out," her first officer reported. "The ship's Doctor is working on the injuries."

"Warp core ejected, Captain," her Communications Officer told her.

"Activate it," Emily said. "Then get the shuttlecrafts and escape pods ready for evacuation."

"That section is damaged, but we will do our best," her first officer said.

Emily, despite the fact that she knew this wasn't real, started to almost panic.

"We're being attacked, Captain," her navigator called. "Romulans!"

Emily thought out the most direct approach.

"Fire photon torpedoes," she commanded.

"Aye sir," her pilot said.

"We're losing power, the crystals are draining," her Engineer's voice crackled over the intercom.

Emily took a deep breath. "Fire the torpedoes, and then get the crew to the pods if possible."

"Captain, our shields are down."

Emily trembled. "Just get the crew to the pods."

"What about you?" her Communications Officer asked.

Emily felt her throat constrict.

"Get. The. Crew. Out," she ground out through gritted teeth.

"Aye sir."

Suddenly, a ship uncloaked in front of them. The Romulan vessel turned towards them, and Emily knew it was too late.

A missile hit the shield. Emily vaguely remembered shouting, and then all was still.

She woke up a few minutes later. She sat up.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"The shock must have hit your mind," the inquisitor said. "You must have subconsciously believed it was real for a minute or two. You were knocked out."

Emily stood abruptly. It was the first time she had felt pain in her life, and she intended to forget about it as soon as possible.

"You will return to the next test tomorrow," the inquisitor told her. Emily nodded and left the room, head held high.

"Hikaru Sulu," the next name was called.

The Asian she had noticed from the exams stood and passed her on his way in.

She left the building for some studying.

**Woo, that took a lot of work for me.**

**So, please tell me what you think, leave your comments in the form of a review! That keeps me going!**


End file.
